


In Brilliant Colour

by HyperKid



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Crack, Fluff, sad Molly hours, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26768305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKid/pseuds/HyperKid
Summary: Mollymauk Tealeaf has been embroidering his coat for... pretty much as long as he’s been alive. And he adds things for the people he cares about, so he can keep a piece of them with him. It doesn’t take long to decide he wants the Traveler.
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf & Yasha Nydoorin
Comments: 9
Kudos: 45





	In Brilliant Colour

**Author's Note:**

> HK: This hasn’t been touched since April!   
> Mollymauk: Which April?   
> HK: I think 2019!   
> Mollymauk: You’re plumbing the fucking depths.   
> HK: Someone said the word “fictober” and I’m not gonna make it a week but I am gonna try!   
> Mollymauk: At least you’re honest with yourself. *prods* Make them all about me.   
> HK: But you made this one sad.   
> Mollymauk: Yup. It’s spooky season, I’m spooky.   
> HK: Sad.   
> Mollymauk: Like spooky but better!   
> HK: Like spooky but no.   
> Mollymauk: What about slutty? Halloween’s good for slutty, right?   
> HK: Yeah okay now I’m in. So! Any Molly prompts for the month for lil snippets of crack, smut, fluff, whump! Hit me up! I shall make them all slutty. 
> 
> WARNINGS!! Mild spoilers around Molly’s backstory that have been out for a year/a month if you squint real good and try 
> 
> Disclaimer: I ain’t celebrating shit til Taliesin Jaffe confirms it and if I owned anything you know I’d already know and be partying

“Jester, darling, may I see your symbol of the Traveler?” Molly asked the first night the motley group were on the road. The other tiefling glanced around from her spot by the cart, fingers already skimming the amulet at her waist. 

“Of course! Why?” She was already moving, heading to the fire with a bright curiosity in her eyes. Molly grinned, jingling his bedecked bag at her and spreading his coat across his knees. 

“I thought I might add him to my collection.” His fingers brushed a patch of red cloth, currently unadorned. “I’ve still got a few spots open.” 

Excitement spread her grin from ear to ear and she all but threw herself down beside him, holding her symbol up for him to see. 

“Oh! Yeah, I bet he’d really like that! Your coat is really cool! Did you do all the embroidery yourself?” She leaned in closer for a better look at the well worn fabric and Molly grinned, searching through his threads for a gold. 

“I learned embroidery on this old cloth, my dear. It was something to do during busy days on the road, when I didn’t want to talk to anyone.” With a satisfied sound, he drew out the thread and a small bag of needles. 

Jester leaned in closer, her nose about an inch from the fabric. 

“It looks really good,” she told him, cocking her head thoughtfully to one side. Fjord dropped into a seat beside Molly, glancing over at the coat. 

“How long you been workin’ on it?” 

Molly hesitated for barely a second, then turned a shit eating grin on the half orc. 

“About half an hour before we got into Trostenwold.” 

Fjord snorted a laugh and gave him a friendly shove, nodding to Jester. 

“What else you got on there?” 

The other tiefling had cricked her neck around by ninety degrees as her examination continued, making the occasional soft sounds of contentment as she recognized a symbol. More than a few were unfamiliar to her or to Fjord. 

Molly shrugged, fingers tapping absentmindedly across a couple of symbols before settling to threading his needle. The Traveler’s symbol was simple enough; it wasn’t likely to take him long. 

“Oh, anything that caught my eye. The holy symbols are always an interesting challenge, and the runes. I added the flowers when Yasha joined us.” 

Fjord’s smile softened a little but he was spared having to comment by a snicker from Jester. 

“Is that why there’s a dick in this one?” 

Molly didn’t even have to look. 

“That one was a dare.” Fangs gleamed in the firelight as he grinned. “And I was bored.” 

“It is certainly quite the project,” Caleb mused, trying to look like he wasn’t immediately searching for the dick. Not fooling anyone either, no matter how he tried not to crane his neck. 

Molly wasn’t about to call him out on it though; that’s what the dick was there for. So he hummed noncommittally, his own smile turning soft and fond as he stretched red cloth across his knees. Beside him Jester paused, then frowned as he raised his needle. 

“Are you gonna just... go at it?” She asked, her nose scrunching in adorable confusion. Molly grinned back at her, flicking the symbol she still held. 

“I free handed most of these, just keep that where I can see it.” It might have been why some of the symbols were... well, not unrecognisable, he could tell what they were all supposed to be. Well. Almost all of them. Most of them, anyway. 

He could fake it if anyone called him on it, for sure. 

But Jester shook her head, reaching across to finger the fabric thoughtfully. 

“No, I mean... don’t you have an embroidery hoop?” She asked, her brows furrowed in confusion. His brows furrowed to match. 

“A what?” 

“It’s kinda like... a wooden loop and then a smaller wooden loop and it stretches the fabric out so it stays flat and taught?” Jester tried to explain, her hands sketching shapes in the air. 

The rest of the Nein were watching them both by now, and it settled Molly a little that most of them looked just as confused as he felt. This wasn’t him being a dumbass. 

Which raised a whole lot more questions that it was Beauregard who seemed to get it, nodding and dropping into a spot across the fire. 

“Yeah, it’s got this kinda screw bit to keep the tension? Trapped my fucking fingers in it like six times.” Dark cheeks flushed as all eyes turned to her and Beau scowled, folding her arms. “What? It’s a fucking skill. Molly’s doing it right now!” 

Molly was tempted to tease her just because she looked so uncomfortable, but she had a point. Noting it away for later he leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. 

“So do you have one now? Sounds useful.” Some of his symbols would be a lot less wonky if he had something to keep the coat flat. The bumpy back of a cart was not a great place for stability. His dick’d be a little less lopsided too. 

Beau’s hackles settled a little when no one mocked her, shaking her head curtly. 

“It wasn’t something I fuckin’ liked.” 

Jester snickered and raised her hand too, reaching over for a high five. 

“I was never any good at it. Maybe the hoop made it worse, neither of us wanted to do it anymore but Molly’s still going?” 

She had a point. Molly considered the stretch of fabric for a moment, then shrugged and took up his needle. 

“Could be. I’ve stabbed myself a bunch and it might be nice to have the help, but who knows?” He’d been doing it this way for a little more than a year, it wasn’t going to be any great hardship to do it again. And the Traveler’s symbol was pretty simple. 

“It’s the bitey screw,” Jester declared definitively, settling herself in beside him to watch, spinning her symbol between her fingers. 

When he’d gotten a little more than the outline done he’d have to ask her to stop. There were a few glints of colour that he hadn’t gotten a particularly good look at yet. As he settled into the task, the repetitive push and pull, he let his mind wander. 

Across his new traveling companions first. They were a strange lot, certainly, but that was nothing new. Hells, it was familiar enough that he felt right at home, even after only knowing them a matter of days. 

Caleb was adorably awkward, torn between standoffish and shy. It wouldn’t be hard to make him blush. He didn’t think Jester had ever blushed in her life, but that could be fun too. 

Fjord? Fjord was easy, and far too much fun. All he had to do was walk around their shared room naked and those green cheeks began to burn. Didn’t complain, though. Didn’t ask him to get dressed. Molly liked that in a man. 

Beau was a pain in the ass, and just possibly his favourite. She didn’t like him, or trust him, and made no secret of either. That was its own kind of fun, and Molly certainly enjoyed it. 

Nott was just plain adorable. Always talking up Caleb, looking to him, deferring to his ideas like a puppy. And she was such a clever little con artist, hers and Caleb’s scams had always been fun to watch. 

Jester was always a willing and cheerful victim for his or Nott’s, and Molly had to wonder how much of it was genuine. She never really lost anything more than a couple of coins, and she clearly had those to spare. It was the exuberance that made him wonder, though. He’d never had a real mark so gushingly over the top about participating. 

And she had a sneaky streak of her own that he definitely liked. It’s why he’d chosen to add her to his coat first. Well, that and the easily available symbol. He was considering a cat for Caleb, but that could be a little tricky to do well. 

Could have Jester do him a couple of sketches, though. She’d probably be happy to help, and if the cat looked like another dick that’d be fine too. 

In the beginning, he’d put pretty much any shape anyone had to copy on his coat. Simple at first, but over the weeks he’d added anything bright and colourful. Anything pretty. Anything that caught his eye. 

There was something beautifully meditative about the embroidery. It kept his hands busy and focused, kept his mind purposeful. Kept it from wandering off if it was quiet or he was alone. It was always quiet when he was alone, before Toya had helped him speak. 

Toya was the first person he’d added to his coat. A little music note, down in the bottom of one of the flaps. She’d traced the stitches gently when he’d showed her, the softest little smile on her face. All the circus had their own little symbols now, either of their faith or of something that made him think of them. 

Yasha’s flowers. Orna’s fire. The dick was actually for the Knot Sisters, and they’d both laughed for days. It was a way of keeping people with him, even when they were gone. He fucking hated being alone. 

Molly needed noise. He needed warmth, and light, and people around him to keep the shadows at bay. This new band were good for that, certainly. Never a dull moment. 

Never time for the dark to creep in, to feel those fucking eyes watching him. 

And the embroidery gave him a quick way back when his hands started shaking. A sharp stab with the needle and he jumped a little, his gaze clearing to see the gleaming golden thread in the fire again. Beside him Jester made a soft noise, reaching over to gently pat the little prick. 

It had barely done more than hurt, but the rush of magic as she healed him washed it all away. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. 

Laughter won, it always did, and he shot her a grin and a raised brow. 

“Wasting your one for the day on that?” He teased, and she stuck her tongue out at him and grinned back. 

“Hey, we’re going to bed now. And if I don’t practice I’m not going to get better!” 

“You could try practicing when we’re in combat,” Beau offered innocently, and Jester flipped her off while the rest of the group laughed. 

“When we’re in combat you want me using the lollipop!” Their cleric refuted huffily, folding her arms. “I’m the only one who doesn’t go down in one hit!” 

“Not the only one!” Beau shot back, flipping her own bird in return. 

“But you are the only one who can get us back up,” Fjord pointed out, fighting a grin of his own and raising both hands in immediate surrender when Jester turned her glare on him. “Or you can kill the bad guys!” 

“Ignore them, sweetheart,” Molly cooed, sticking his needle carefully in the coat out of the way before tugging her in to lean against him, “I can get it up on my own perfectly well if needed.” 

As expected, the scowl melted away into giggles and she leaned immediately into him. 

“I can always help with that too,” she told him with a flirty grin, and he gave her a quick squeeze. Tempting as she was (very), he did have to reluctantly admit he didn’t know the whole group quite that well yet. 

So he pressed a kiss to her cheek and gave her a pat on the butt before taking up his coat again. The Traveler’s symbol was simple enough he could probably finish it in another hour, if he stayed focused. 

“Next time we’re in town,” he promised as she pouted, her eyes still bright with laughter, and nodded to her symbol. “Let me finish?” 

“Little quick,” Beau snickered, and Molly considered dropping his pants to show her. Considered the odds she’d actually care. And the odds she’d punch him. 

He’d not tried anything as complex as a fist before, but he could be persuaded. For Beauregard. And then he just gave her a flirty grin and an overly lascivious wink. 

“It’s the company.” 

A giggling Jester took out her symbol for him and Molly got back to work, sewing in the lines and details of the doorway. He could fill them in later if he took a stint in the cart, or over a few more evenings. It’d look good just as the outline for now. 

It was... soothing. Knowing that even with his home torn to pieces, he was bringing some of it with him. That he wasn’t alone. That people knew he was alive, that they cared. 

He wished Yasha would come back. 

**Author's Note:**

> HK: So again! Any lil prompts you wanna see me fill for the world’s laziest fictober, drop them in a review and I’ll hit as many as I can in between attacking the WIP pile!


End file.
